Tag: SAIA

Carleton’s chapter of Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) is hosting Israeli Apartheid Week at Carleton from March 13 to 18. Samiha Rayeda, the volunteer, outreach and programming co-ordinator at the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG), one of the sponsors of the week, said the goal of the week is mainly education and to “encourage students at Carleton and students all over the world to participate and support Palestinian solidarity.” She said she hopes the week will open discussions around the issue of Palestinian human rights and added the response to the week is “generally very positive.” According to the event’s Facebook page, Israeli Apartheid Week seeks to raise awareness about Israel’s policies towards Palestinian people and to build support […]

Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) effectively challenges the notion every year whether or not the university is truly an institution of higher learning. During the course of my four-year undergraduate degree at Carleton, I have been privy to the rhetoric offered by this group. Israel has a 20 per cent Arab minority.This minority can engage in every facet of political life, from being a member of the Knesset (equivalent to being members of Parliament), to being on the Supreme Court, as well as generals in the Israel Defence Forces. I haven’t heard this information brought forward by the SAIA group. In the many arguments I have had with supporters of this group, I have typically been shouted at, told I was […]

The Ontario branch of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) passed a motion to boycott Israel at their annual general meeting earlier in August. The national representative for CFS Ontario (CFS-O), Anna Goldfinch, said member unions CFS-O unanimously passed a motion to condemn the actions of Israel in Gaza, including the bombing of two universities. Goldfinch said the motion calls for the Canadian government to stop supplying arms to Israel and to end the Canadian-Israeli free trade agreement, among other requests. Goldfinch said it is up to CFS-O member unions to decide how to carry out their campaign on campus. “There is local autonomy for each member students’ union to decide how they want to carry out that campaign on their […]

The second-last event of Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) featured professor emeritus Michael Keefer at the University of Guelph speaking on March 6 about what he called the Harper government’s rhetoric of the “New Anti-Semitism.” Keefer’s panel addressed how IAW has been controversial for the 10 years it has run. It also examined why students continue to fight for IAW and how they face opposition in the form of what Keefer said is the “new anti-semitism.” Keefer defined the “new anti-semitism” is the opinion that IAW and similar events draw disproportionate attention to alleged human rights abuses in Israel, relative to other countries facing similar allegations. He pinned this viewpoint to Harper. In his panel he opposed the viewpoint, drawing the […]

Organizers of Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) at Carleton said the March 3-7 series of events, which have drawn contention in the past, have so far been a great source of discussion on campus. “During this week we try to speak about the nature of apartheid, and what it is,” said student Aziz Khatib, member of Carleton’s Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA), hosts of the week. “We’ve been having great discussions with people who have come to our events, and who come to our volunteer tables,” Khatib said. The goal of the events is to bring awareness to an “apartheid” system in Israel and to promote a campaign for boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel, according to the IAW website. Khatib […]